Jon Stewart pokes fun at selfie scandal
Jewish comedian weighs in on Miss Israel photobomb — ‘It’s a beauty pageant!’ Stewart says. ‘They’re all enemies!’
Jon Stewart addressed the Miss Israel “photobombing” controversy on Monday, as Miss Lebanon faced criticism for appearing in a photo with the representative of an enemy state.
“It’s a beauty pageant!” Stewart said in a Daily Show segment. “They’re all enemies!”
Lebanese national Sally Greige was to be investigated for appearing in a photo with Israeli representative Doron Matalon, who uploaded it to her Instagram account. Greige later defended herself, accusing her rival of entering the photo at the last minute, and without her consent.
“From the first day I arrived at the Miss Universe pageant I was very careful not to take any pictures with Miss Israel, who tried repeatedly to take pictures with me,” Greige wrote on Facebook. “While I was preparing with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan to get our photograph taken, Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie with her phone and posted it on social media.”
Stewart jokingly linked the selfie scandal to the Charlie Hebdo cover and ultra-Orthodox photoshop job of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, dubbing the segment “What picture is upsetting the Middle East this week?”
Responding to the claims by Greige that Matalon had “photobombed,” Stewart said: “Does everything that happens between Middle East countries have to be a bombing?”
“In the overall area of that photo, she’s only taking up a very narrow strip at the edge,” he said of Miss Israel, “I mean what do you want to do? Push her back to, say, pre-1967 photo borders?”
Stewart also lamented that the beauty competition was spoiled by politics.
“It’s the one chance in the whole year when all nations can put aside their differences, come together in Miami and as one treat women like expensive food instead human beings. Don’t ruin that.”
Justin Jalil contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.